1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to rock guards which are commonly installed at the front of the dump bodies of rear dump trucks. Such guards include upright protective structures which have a portion projecting out at least partially over the cab of the truck and over other parts of the truck in order to protect the cab and other parts from the materials which are loaded into the truck body.
Such materials may be loaded into the truck body by mobile loaders, by backhoes or other excavators, by means of conveyor belts, and in other ways. Regardless of the method of loading it is frequently desirable to protect the cab and other portions of the truck from the materials being loaded because sometimes the loading machine or device projects the materials too far forward and they fall onto the cab or other portions of the truck. Rocks are the most common item against which such protection is needed because they are most likely to cause damage and that is the reason such structures are called "rock guards" even though they protect the cab and other parts of the truck against damage from whatever is being loaded into the truck.
2. Description of Prior Art
Heretofore the protective structures of such rock guards have been fabricated and then assembled on the front of the dump body of a truck, but if the height of the protective structure was too great to allow the truck to pass through a particular opening, or for some other reason it was desired to fully or partially retract the protective structure it ordinarily has been necessary to fully or partially dissassemble the protective structure.
The object of the present invention is to provide a rock guard including a protective structure which is readily retractable from the normal operating position to a retracted position in which it is supported in horizontally disposed relation on the floor of the dump body.